People

By Rebecca Winters Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004
    • Our Father, Who Is Mel
    What's left to do after you've made a grisly movie in a dead language about the anguish and suffering of Jesus Christ? Why, a family sitcom! Mel Gibson is producing a comedy inspired in part by his own life as the father of six boys. ABC has ordered a pilot of The Savages, which is about a blue-collar single dad who is raising five boys. Gibson, who also has a daughter, will co-direct the pilot with Mike Scully, executive producer of The Simpsons. Scully and his wife Julie Thacker will co-write the script. "Mike and I decided to do a comedy about five boys," said Thacker, "because we have five girls, and trust me, there's nothing funny about that." This doesn't mean Gibson has lost his appetite for explosive subjects. His company is also working on a TV movie based on the life of Evel Knievel.

    Dividing Up The Barbie Dream House
    For 43 years he put up with her countless career changes (what ever happened to the malt shop?), freakish feet and pesky little sister Skipper. And now BARBIE has dumped KEN like a piece of plastic. Apparently hoping a little Bennifer-style drama will boost flagging doll sales, Mattel announced at last week's Toy Fair that the never married couple "feel it's time to spend some quality time — apart." And just so every little girl could have the chance to playact the relationship dissolution and subsequent self-loathing of her dreams, Mattel even introduced a third party, buff Australian surfer doll BLAINE. Newly free Ken, we presume, can call up G.I. Joe and go double-dating.

    Life After Uma
    Ever wonder what losing a woman like Uma Thurman does to a guy? The March issue of Details holds some answers: the heart gets wrenched, and the abs get ripped. "It's been the saddest, most agonizing period of my life," says ETHAN HAWKE, in an interview about his recent separation from the willowy Kill Bill star and mother of his two children. Hawke, who says he has lost 15 lbs. because of anxiety since the split, admits that he and Thurman will probably divorce. Press reports that Hawke's infidelity caused the rift have been "annoying," the Training Day star says. "If our problems were that simple, we'd still be together. I have this burning desire to walk up to everybody on the street and say, 'Hey, by the way, that's not true.' But I've been feeling like Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter."